March Wrap

31 Mar March Wrap

March began with Melbourne Storm celebrating its 20th year in style with a pre-season dinner at Crown Palladium. The room was filled with over 700 fans, special guests, and past and present players of the club, who were treated to an insight from past players of Melbourne Storm. Overall, the night was well received by all and was an exciting element to introduce the start of 2018 for Storm.

Melbourne Storm launched its campaign to defend their title when they returned to AAMI Park in March with a strong 30-14 win over North Queensland Cowboys in a Grand Final Rematch.

For Victory, the home games for the month began by hosting J-League reigning champions and heavy weights, Kawasaki Frontale. After a gruelling ninety minutes, it took the final seconds of the match for one goal to end up on the board with an incredible strike from Kosta Barbarouses, keeping their hopes for qualifying for the next ACL stage alive.

Melbourne Victory brought the momentum of an ACL win, into their next two home games. The first being against the unsteady Central Coast Mariners. Leroy George opened scoring for Victory, early in the first half. From here, MVFC were able to completely dominate the visiting Mariners, with a hattrick from the marquee striker, Besart Berisha, and a first A-League goal for the young Christian Theoharous late in the second half. With a 5-0 score line, the Mariners were able to bring two to the board in the final minutes of the second half, but with the untouchable challenge from Victory set, it was the boys in blue who added the crucial three points to their club’s name.

Aiming to finish the month on a high, MVFC were set to host Western Sydney Wanderers on the final day of a huge month. The first half of the match, saw Leroy George opening the scoring yet again for the second home game in a row. It wasn’t long before the Wanderers were able to respond, getting past Lawrence Thomas late in the first half, only to then give away a penalty. The penalty saw Besart Berisha step up to the penalty spot with all intentions to push Victory back in front. Success! The momentum continued in the second half with a Goal of the Year contender from Thomas Deng.

Be sure to keep an eye out for the Max Events team throughout April, bringing you two huge Melbourne Storm games, including the much anticipated ANZAC Day clash against the Warriors and Victory continue their ACL campaign and head towards the A-League Finals Series.